It was dawn outside before Morgan was composed enough to leave the room with Frank. He felt better after discussing it. Morgan told Frank about Marcus, and they were going to head there today. They had looked at the note. They left the room, searching for Katherine, as soon as the light had filtered in enough for Frank to see in the hallways. There was already a long line snaking through the hall to use the shop podium. Katherine was in her library room with the door open. Mara was sitting in a guest chair on the side of the room, leaning over a small writing table, making notes as Katherine spoke. As they entered, Morgan closed the door behind them, quickly glancing up and down the hall.

  “I am glad you made it back,” Katherine said, relieved, a small smile on her face, “None of the guards reported seeing you this morning.”

  “I must have walked in when they were off doing something else,” Morgan replied sheepishly. But then remembered there were criminals out there planning to attack them soon, and his face and voice hardened. “That’s not true,” he contradicted himself. Katherine frowned at the tone of his voice. “I hoped the wall and walked right past a guard sleeping at the front door. I could have been anyone.” The frown deepened when he explained his entrance.

  “Hmm, that should not have happened. I will see ….” She began.

  Morgan cut her off, “It’s worse. You have a traitor inside your walls.” He placed the note on the table in front of her. “I had to kill,” he paused for a second, took a breath, glanced at Mara, and continued, “I killed two men who were planning to return with their gang, in a week to rape and pillage the Academy. I had to kill them to get this note. A man they called Marsh gave it to them. They originally planned to attack today.” Morgan’s face started to flush as he felt the anger rising in his chest. “They said they already have girls they are abusing. They’re up in the mill led by some guy named Johansen.”

  Katherine was silent; she sat with her mouth slightly open, reading the note. It detailed the guards, their rotation, patrol routes, and the location of a hidden key to the large gate. Her trembling hand rose to her mouth in shock. “They could have attacked us at any time with the key. Keeping this note from their hands saved our lives.” She said softly. Wide eyes looking up and flicking between Morgan, Mara, and Frank. “What do we do? I am going to immediately change up the guard rotations. We posted the list on the wall yesterday. Going to need to take that down.” Morgan could see the calculations she was doing in her head as she spoke. Mara leaned her head down and began scribbling notes.

  “They were going to wait a week before the attack, but that was before Morgan interfered,” Frank said flatly. “They know that someone killed those two men. We don’t know if that is going to move up their timeline.”

  “Not many get told where the patrols are going, but they are all volunteers. There are over two hundred people here now. Anyone could be the traitor!” Katherine huffed.

  “No, I saw the man. He was wearing a cloak, and I couldn’t see his face clearly, but he was short and had blond hair and a beard. If I saw him again, I could tell you who he is. But, I think it might be Mr. Marshall. He has a tax on the shop, basically doubling the price of everything, sending it to Johansen. If he wasn't the one with the note, he is still involved.”

  “Mr. Marshall does not have blonde hair; in fact, he is bald and has a brown beard. I will need to identify the man you saw. Please explain this tax on the shop you mentioned.” Katherine said, leaning forward. Mara also looked at him, eyes boring into him intently.

  “Well, I kinda… I have a … It’s easier if I just show you,” Morgan stammered out, raising his palm. Sophia’s translucent blue form appeared. Katherine leaned back in her chair, and Mara came suddenly to her feet, as Sophia nodded.

  “Hello Katherine,” Sophia turned and nodded at Mara, “and Mara, I am Sophia, I am an assistant to Morgan. I am the one who detected the tax on the items and determined that Mr Marshall is the one who directed the tax funds be sent to Mr Johansen.” Mara curiously waved a hand through the translucent Sophia as she spoke. Sophia wavered a bit and then re-solidified.

  “Amazing,” Mara breathed. “It’s…, she’s an AI projection.”

  Ignoring Mara, Katherine asked, “And we know that Johansen is the leader of this gang of murderers and rapists?”

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  “I heard it myself from the men I had to fight, and the short man who gave them the note,” Morgan replied confidently.

  “Thank you, Morgan and Sophia,” Katherine said. “We will need to figure that out as well.”

  Sophia faded away with a bow, much to Mara’s disappointment.

  Katherine stood and began to pace, talking calmly and collected, “Okay. I think we need to have a solid plan this morning. It’s possible they will attack as Frank suggested.” She walked with one hand on her chin, the other holding her elbow as she mused, “We need to rescue the girls at the mill, and root out he traitor.” She stopped pacing, turning to the three of them. “We will also need to plan for an attack today without alerting the possible traitor, or traitors, that we know something is afoot.”

  Frank held up his healing, but still mangled, left hand. He only had the thumb and pointer finger left. “I really haven’t recovered well enough to help Morgan much, but I can keep an eye out for the short blond man.” he dropped his hand, sadly, “We need to at least scout the mill and see what we are dealing with. I also need to go check on a friend of mine that’s still living out to the east.”

  Mara perked up, “I could go with you two, just to scout the mill. I am starting to feel useless.” She glanced between the three, eyes brimming with anticipation of anyone saying yes.

  “Having another set of hands wouldn’t hurt,” Frank said. “Besides, Morgan already cleared all the creatures to the southeast.” He finished, reaching up to place a hand on Morgan’s shoulder.

  “Yes, I did. There were no other survivors. I cleared all the creatures, so unless the rifts keep coming…” Morgan said.

  Sophia interrupted him. He held up his hand, stopping mid-sentence.

  “Sophia says the rifts will continue to randomly spawn around us, but not near the Academy.” He finished, shaking his head. So we need to talk to Frank’s friends, scout the mill, and then come back here to find out who the traitors are.”

  “I will plan out the new guard schedule and see if anything else seems out of place,” Katherine said.

  “Let’s meet back up in the front lawn in about ten minutes,” Morgan said.

  Everyone agreed.

  Mara met them on the front lawn wearing dark brown leather armor, a quiver, and a large, wicked-looking compound bow. She looked ordinary next to Frank, wearing a bright orange great helm; he also had his crowbar, a short sword, and some long, dusty colored scale mail. Morgan wore the oriental style bracers and greaves over his now normal outfit. He had a short sword on one hip and the bastard sword slung on his back.

  “Any good with the bow?” Morgan asked as Mara walked up.

  “Elective in college,” she said, waving the bow to the side, “Never got rid of it.”

  “You got some fancy armor pieces there,” she said, noticing his bracers and greaves.

  “Just so we know about how we stand,” Frank said in his gravely voice, “I think we should give the basics of some of our skills. I will start.” He touched his head, ‘I have increased hearing, and a stealth skill.” He dropped his hand, “then I have a barrier that burns mana but protects me from physical attacks. Everything else is just attribute points.”

  Morgan went next. “Well, I uh… can open doors quietly,” He had Sophia pull up the list so he could see. “I have dodge, I have stamina regen, I have Iron Skin, I improved first aid, and I regenerate really, really fast.” His bar said he was 90% xp until level 10.

  “Ahhh, that explains it,” Mara said, pointing a finger at him accusingly. “I was trying to find out why your clothes were always shredded, but your skin doesn't have any marks on it. I was thinking you could turn into a gas or something, and the weapons went through you.”

  “They do go through me,” Morgan said with a grimace. “I heal, but it still hurts. Ohh, I also can… absorb skill coins from dead people,” Morgan finished, shrugging embarrassingly.

  “What? How does that work?” Mara asked again; she was full of curiosity.

  “My ability creates these,” Morgan pulled one of the coin-shaped objects from his pocket and held it out to her. Mara gingerly took the object, as if it might shock her. She held it up and looked at it.

  “It feels warm, and there is like a pulse in it,” her eyes were boring into the coin as she turned it in her fingers, “and there is some weird interface port here in the back.” She looked at him directly, “Do you have equipment that works, like some cord that comes out of you to…” She saw the embarrassed and red look on Morgan’s face and then realized what she had said. “Never mind,” She hastily gave the coin back.

  “Actually, Sophia thinks you can help me out. I need to make an interface for the cores. We think that will let me use the skills inside, or something.” Morgan pocketed the coin.

  “That sounds awesome!” Mara exclaimed. “I can’t wait to study that thing. Well, I guess my turn,” Mara said. She held up the bow, “I have a volley skill, I can fire one arrow and like ten come shooting out, but only if I fire in the air, not directly at something.” She took a deep breath, “It isn’t very useful.” She deflated a little, “But I can make my hands or fingers superheated. And, I can create small, useful objects from random stuff with the artificer skill I have. I’m basically MacGyver.” She finished with a large smile on her face. It made the still-healing scar on her face pull tight, looking more vivid for a split second.